FOUR MORE YEARS
Anyone here suffering from Olympic withdrawal? It was exhilarating to observe real physical competition instead of political wrangling. It's amazing watching the physical feats of young people and, on occasion, middle-aged people (outlier: Zeng Zhiying, who was born in China, made her Olympics debut at age 58 for Chile in table tennis) perform their remarkable physical and mental feats. Many have been doing this from the time they were toddlers and now by the age of 14 to 20 they are world class athletes who are plying their trade, having spent countless hours training to win a gold, silver or bronze medal. People from all over the world come together every four years, whether it be a summer or a winter Olympics to compete. Millions of eyes are watching compelling TV all over the world and thousands more have traveled to view the live events and festivities. Now that it's over, I guess we have football to look forward to but there is nothing in my opinion, like the Olympics.
Just like modern day America where we gather around the television and sports and entertainment seems to be the altar for most men and for our society at large. My wife and I are partial to track and field. It was very similar in the times of the New Testament when the audience of the day would gather around the Isthmian (every 2 years) and Olympic Games which were quadrennial. The Colosseum was built for the main purpose of entertainment and providing a place for everyone to gather around a national shrine. This was their altar of the day. Unlike the modern Olympic Games where gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the first three places respectively, in the ancient games, only the winner received the crown. There was no second-place award – winning was everything!
I want to briefly mention a few things about the references that are made by Scripture in Hebrews and by Paul that reference the games and analogies that speak on our lives today. In Hebrews 12 the writer says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and that is a direct reference to the amphitheater and spectators that were watching those sports and those brutal battles that were occurring in the Colosseum.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Heb. 12:1-3).
Hebrews chapter 12 speaks to the cloud of witnesses and there is going to be one word that jumps off the page and that word is discipline. You are going to see it as a theme throughout the whole chapter. Count it up for yourself and see how much the writer of this chapter is focusing on a disciplined lifestyle and the discipline of the Father that we must submit to if we want to finish our course well. Why should we lose heart battling the opposition of this world? Just as it killed Jesus, the world produced countless martyrs because of their faith.
1 Corinthians 4:9 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.
Philippians 3:12-15 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul encouraged the Philippians to exercise pure faith. He had invested hard work and deep suffering in teaching them God's story and he wanted his exertion to pay off much like an Olympic athlete deeply desires his sacrifices to result in ultimate rewards. It was in ultimate confidence that Paul approached the end of his life anticipating his impending martyrdom in Rome. He wrote to his young protégé Timothy:
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. (II Timothy 4: 6-8)
Paul used his understanding of the Olympic races to illustrate the basics of the Christian life. As a runner trains for his race, he must know the rules and commit to winning. A believer must endure hardship and exercise absolute and enduring faith in the Word of God and keep his eyes on the goal in the power of the Cross. Despite obstacles, challenges and temptations and even the threat of death, the Christian continues to run the race Christ has marked out.
II Timothy chapter 2 we see three distinct analogies. Paul likens Timothy to a soldier, an athlete and thirdly a farmer.
2 Tim. 2:5. Paul states, “If anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” Most likely Paul had in mind the oaths that the athletes took in the underground cave of the Palaimon. Here, the athletes swore that they would follow the rules in their training as well as not cheat to win the Isthmian crown. In the Christian “race”, we must follow the rules as well. Knowing what the rules are, results from knowing the “Rule Book”, the Word of God. It behooves the believer in the Lord Jesus to read, study and apply the Word of God to his or her life.
Paul will reference boxing quite a bit and this is a commutation to self-discipline. The epitaph of a boxer named Agathos Daimon, from Alexandria (Gerand-Jean 1964: 185-187) found on a funerary monument at Olympia in Greece said:
Here he died boxing in the stadium Having prayed to Zeus for a wreath or death. Age 35. Farewell.
Paul says he brings himself under discipline as buffets his body, and when he uses the analogy of boxing, he's talking about buffeting himself, using self-discipline, self-mastery and diligence to bring his nature under control. We see the goal is about finishing well and getting the prize, the reward that the Lord has for us. We see that boxing is about bringing under discipline the energies of the flesh, anything in us of the natural man that wants to strive against what the Lord is calling us to. Additionally, there is wrestling. Boxing is an attempt to win by subduing at a distance. Wrestling is getting down and dirty. I’ll leave you to your own devices on this one. There is a goal and to reach the goal, you're going to have to apply your strength, focus and intent and you must concentrate on the race set before you.
Another feature in the race is perseverance. Physical exertion of any type, whether work or athletic, promotes fatigue. We need to keep our eyes on the prize and keep pushing forward despite pain, despite fatigue. This is another reference for us in our spiritual walk. Be careful not to stumble. In the world we have obstacles. In the race there are obstacles. There are things we have to hurdle over, things we have to maneuver around, and Paul is also instructing us don't stumble, to be careful, watch where we are going, be alert and proceed in a manner that's worthy of your call.
No one enters a race because they want to lose or get second place. If you're entering the race it is because you want to win. If you want to get stronger it's not a question of knowing what to do most of the time; it's a question of doing it. It's going to require some training; it's going to require you to get up and do something and that's something that the athletes do better than anyone else, the self-mastery that comes through self-denial. If you want to beat the flesh you have to deny the flesh.
The good news is that we're not doing this just out of our willpower and sheer strength. We have the power of the Holy Spirit to live a spirit-filled life, which energized life through the Spirit as long as we're getting our spiritual nutrition, and we are dependent upon the Lord through the Word of God. This comes through resting, waiting in His presence, through pursuing Him and knowing that He's with us to meet every single need that we face.
Four times Paul spoke of his own growth and service in terms of his own race. To the gifted but immature believers in Corinth, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize (1 Cor. 9:24). Here Paul compares the disciplined effort necessary for spiritual growth to an Olympic athlete’s effort to win the prize that awaits only the winner of a race. Spiritual growth does not just happen on its own and the believer must cooperate with God by exerting responsible and serious effort to follow what the Holy Spirit says. Anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown except by competing according to the rules. The true believer demonstrates the reality of God's work in his heart by enduring all sorts of tests in the development of Christlikeness. The believer is in training much as an Olympic athlete must train for a race--no pain, no gain. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out. Jesus is portrayed as the finest runner, the one who set the pace, our model and hero in life's race as a runner in the games.
As Paul kept his eyes on the finish line we must keep our eyes on Christ and his joyful reward. Some believers in Galatia had lost faith in God's grace and were returning to a legalistic performance-based religion. Paul wrote strong words to them. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. The true Christian life can be lived only by faith. Trusting our own works and following Satan’s deceitful advice only insults God and does us no good.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[a] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. (Phil. 2:14-15)
Jesus is our standard bearer. He has earned the victory over sin and death. We are in Him and He is in us. Keep your eyes on THE prize!!
Just like modern day America where we gather around the television and sports and entertainment seems to be the altar for most men and for our society at large. My wife and I are partial to track and field. It was very similar in the times of the New Testament when the audience of the day would gather around the Isthmian (every 2 years) and Olympic Games which were quadrennial. The Colosseum was built for the main purpose of entertainment and providing a place for everyone to gather around a national shrine. This was their altar of the day. Unlike the modern Olympic Games where gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the first three places respectively, in the ancient games, only the winner received the crown. There was no second-place award – winning was everything!
I want to briefly mention a few things about the references that are made by Scripture in Hebrews and by Paul that reference the games and analogies that speak on our lives today. In Hebrews 12 the writer says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and that is a direct reference to the amphitheater and spectators that were watching those sports and those brutal battles that were occurring in the Colosseum.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Heb. 12:1-3).
Hebrews chapter 12 speaks to the cloud of witnesses and there is going to be one word that jumps off the page and that word is discipline. You are going to see it as a theme throughout the whole chapter. Count it up for yourself and see how much the writer of this chapter is focusing on a disciplined lifestyle and the discipline of the Father that we must submit to if we want to finish our course well. Why should we lose heart battling the opposition of this world? Just as it killed Jesus, the world produced countless martyrs because of their faith.
1 Corinthians 4:9 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.
Philippians 3:12-15 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul encouraged the Philippians to exercise pure faith. He had invested hard work and deep suffering in teaching them God's story and he wanted his exertion to pay off much like an Olympic athlete deeply desires his sacrifices to result in ultimate rewards. It was in ultimate confidence that Paul approached the end of his life anticipating his impending martyrdom in Rome. He wrote to his young protégé Timothy:
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. (II Timothy 4: 6-8)
Paul used his understanding of the Olympic races to illustrate the basics of the Christian life. As a runner trains for his race, he must know the rules and commit to winning. A believer must endure hardship and exercise absolute and enduring faith in the Word of God and keep his eyes on the goal in the power of the Cross. Despite obstacles, challenges and temptations and even the threat of death, the Christian continues to run the race Christ has marked out.
II Timothy chapter 2 we see three distinct analogies. Paul likens Timothy to a soldier, an athlete and thirdly a farmer.
2 Tim. 2:5. Paul states, “If anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” Most likely Paul had in mind the oaths that the athletes took in the underground cave of the Palaimon. Here, the athletes swore that they would follow the rules in their training as well as not cheat to win the Isthmian crown. In the Christian “race”, we must follow the rules as well. Knowing what the rules are, results from knowing the “Rule Book”, the Word of God. It behooves the believer in the Lord Jesus to read, study and apply the Word of God to his or her life.
Paul will reference boxing quite a bit and this is a commutation to self-discipline. The epitaph of a boxer named Agathos Daimon, from Alexandria (Gerand-Jean 1964: 185-187) found on a funerary monument at Olympia in Greece said:
Here he died boxing in the stadium Having prayed to Zeus for a wreath or death. Age 35. Farewell.
Paul says he brings himself under discipline as buffets his body, and when he uses the analogy of boxing, he's talking about buffeting himself, using self-discipline, self-mastery and diligence to bring his nature under control. We see the goal is about finishing well and getting the prize, the reward that the Lord has for us. We see that boxing is about bringing under discipline the energies of the flesh, anything in us of the natural man that wants to strive against what the Lord is calling us to. Additionally, there is wrestling. Boxing is an attempt to win by subduing at a distance. Wrestling is getting down and dirty. I’ll leave you to your own devices on this one. There is a goal and to reach the goal, you're going to have to apply your strength, focus and intent and you must concentrate on the race set before you.
Another feature in the race is perseverance. Physical exertion of any type, whether work or athletic, promotes fatigue. We need to keep our eyes on the prize and keep pushing forward despite pain, despite fatigue. This is another reference for us in our spiritual walk. Be careful not to stumble. In the world we have obstacles. In the race there are obstacles. There are things we have to hurdle over, things we have to maneuver around, and Paul is also instructing us don't stumble, to be careful, watch where we are going, be alert and proceed in a manner that's worthy of your call.
No one enters a race because they want to lose or get second place. If you're entering the race it is because you want to win. If you want to get stronger it's not a question of knowing what to do most of the time; it's a question of doing it. It's going to require some training; it's going to require you to get up and do something and that's something that the athletes do better than anyone else, the self-mastery that comes through self-denial. If you want to beat the flesh you have to deny the flesh.
The good news is that we're not doing this just out of our willpower and sheer strength. We have the power of the Holy Spirit to live a spirit-filled life, which energized life through the Spirit as long as we're getting our spiritual nutrition, and we are dependent upon the Lord through the Word of God. This comes through resting, waiting in His presence, through pursuing Him and knowing that He's with us to meet every single need that we face.
Four times Paul spoke of his own growth and service in terms of his own race. To the gifted but immature believers in Corinth, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize (1 Cor. 9:24). Here Paul compares the disciplined effort necessary for spiritual growth to an Olympic athlete’s effort to win the prize that awaits only the winner of a race. Spiritual growth does not just happen on its own and the believer must cooperate with God by exerting responsible and serious effort to follow what the Holy Spirit says. Anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown except by competing according to the rules. The true believer demonstrates the reality of God's work in his heart by enduring all sorts of tests in the development of Christlikeness. The believer is in training much as an Olympic athlete must train for a race--no pain, no gain. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out. Jesus is portrayed as the finest runner, the one who set the pace, our model and hero in life's race as a runner in the games.
As Paul kept his eyes on the finish line we must keep our eyes on Christ and his joyful reward. Some believers in Galatia had lost faith in God's grace and were returning to a legalistic performance-based religion. Paul wrote strong words to them. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. The true Christian life can be lived only by faith. Trusting our own works and following Satan’s deceitful advice only insults God and does us no good.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[a] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. (Phil. 2:14-15)
Jesus is our standard bearer. He has earned the victory over sin and death. We are in Him and He is in us. Keep your eyes on THE prize!!
by Gregg McKinney, Deacon Chairman
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